Thursday, May 04, 2006

Do as we say, not as we do...

Confessional - A bitch’s first thought was Lawd, let’s hope he doesn’t get his hunt on while visiting. What? A bitch is just being honest (wink).

Anyhoo, the headline was all about Cheney’s 'tough talk' for Russia. These bitch hit rewind…bless you, TiVo…and listened to that tough talk several times. Something was off…yeah, his statement just didn’t settle well.

“No legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidationand blackmail.”

Oh yes, something is certainly off with that shit.

Cheney went on to say…

…“from religion and the news media to advocacy groups and political parties, thegovernment has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of the people."

Let’s take these one at a time, shall we?

“No legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidationand blackmail.”

Oil and gas have been infused with economic power and with power comes corruption, intimidation and blackmail. Oil and gas are the spice melange, to dip into some Dune-based shit, and it appears that the world is prepared to battle it out over controlof it.

Moving beyond the politics of who controls the spice…umm, err gas and oil…we can see some serious bullshit swirled into Cheney’s critique.

America is being confronted with the student who took notes during our 5 decade international diplomacy clinic on intimidation. We taught Intimidation 101 very well and it looks like several students are going to graduate with honors.

After several decades of utilizing the intimidating weapons of nuclear power and economic aide to shape the world in our image, we are now being confronted with several nations who are doing the same damned thing.

America has long used economic aide as a negotiating tactic…and used it well with strong results…and now Russia is using a necessary thing…that thing being oil/gas…to control former satellite states.

The pot and the kettle are playing a game of chicken here and the whole world is watching.

Cheney’s statement doesn’t settle on the brain because it simply isn’t true. Putin’s legitimate interests, though arguably corrupt, are to dominate and control those former satellites. Argue the ethics, morality and the dedication to democratic ideals, but in the power game those interests are legitimate as a motherfucker.

And ‘you need to play nice’ just doesn’t hold a candle to ‘it’s my ball and we’re gonna play the way my ass wants to’.

Does a bitch think that Russia is manipulating former satellite nations, attempting to undermine democracy and generally fucking with those nations?

Most likely.

Does the United States have the moral authority to chastise Russia for seeking to influence neighboring governments by wielding the power of oil?

Uh, no. Particularly in the same week that America chose to wield our aid-based weapons against Mexico because they were on the verge of signing a drug legalization bill into law. Shit, just ask Cuba about America's interest in other people's political evolution.

Moving forward…

…“from religion and the news media to advocacy groups and political parties, thegovernment has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of the people."

For the love of Gawd, does this man ever listen to the words that come out of his mouth?

Mercy.

If you’re looking around for the asshole in this argument it’s you, Mr. Cheney. Lead by example, motherfucker…and get your Evangelical boot off my fucking neck before you start chastising other nations for how much weight they put on the necks of their citizens.

A bitch almost choked over the news media portion of Cheney’s critique. The man who requires his hotel room television set to be turned to FOX prior to his arrival…the administration that used the weapons of government to attack critics in the press…the same motherfuckers who have held closed doors meetings on energy policy, spied on citizens, lied about the case for war with Iraq and then lied about lying about the case to war…manipulated their sympathetic media allies and attacked their media critics…now you want to tell Russia how to promote the Fourth Estate?

Yeah, good luck with that.

And this bitch doesn’t have the strength to tackle the complete and utter bullshit of Cheney confronting Russia for not fostering a healthy political opposition.

The world has changed and we had a huge part that change. We taught our clinic well and must adjust to a world that judges us not by what we say but by what we do.

Between learning from America’s successful manipulation of others to laughing at the blatant hypocrisy of our criticism, a bitch is left to wonder when my fellow Americans will catch a glimpse of the tarnished super power in the mirror…and if we will recognize the bruised and battered international image of this nation when we do.

Shit.

It's past time for the sleeper to awaken...couldn't resist one more Dune-based nugget (wink).

6 comments:

The story of Russia's wonderful abandonment of Communism and embracing of Western-style Democracy, er Capitalism, er American Values played in this country as though it were the end of Return of the Jedi and the evil Empire had been defeated. Yay! The People are free at last! We won! Let's all have a party!

However, on their side of the fence it meant the worst economic downturn in generations, with unemployment higher than our own Great Depression. Thanks to widespread poverty and food supply disruptions, catastrophic environmental damage and a complete collapse of public health services, a male born in 1980 could look forward to a shorter life span on average than one born in 1900 -- yes, that's right, the generation that lived through a civil war, two world wars, Stalin's purges, and numerous famines.

So while our leaders stand over on our rich, comfortable side of the fence hypocritically berating Putin for acting like a demogogue (there's nothing the neocons hate more than a demogogue with oil who won't sell it at a price we like), it's worth remembering that when, for a short time, the Russian leadership tried to embrace our fabulous way of life, it led to conditions growing much, much worse for the vast majority of the population. Between foreign interests who bought former state assets for pennies on the dollar and Russian criminal syndicates who snatched up the rest, the Russian people ended up enjoying very little of the fruits of capitalism, and Russia went from being a global power to being a third-world debtor nation.

Putin certainly is a demogogue, but he's also a skilled negotiator and politician. He's playing hardball and the U.S. and Europe don't like it. He's obviously learned from experience that playing the game by Washington's rules is a losing proposition.---------------------------------Fear is the mindkiller.

"Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own? And how dare you say to your brother,"Let me take that splinter out of your eye," when, look, there is a great log in your own? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye."